Gamma Real Estate

June 27, 2018

City says work can resume on Sutton Place’s controversial 800-foot tower

A relatively staid neighborhood, things are heating up at the Upper East Side’s Sutton Place, again. Last December, 6sqft reported that Gamma Real Estate had to stop work on Sutton 58, their proposed 800-foot residential tower. After three years of community protest over what many consider an out-of-context supertall building, the New York City Council spoke loudly (with a 45-0 vote) and approved a height rezoning of 10 blocks between 51st and 59th Streets east of First Avenue. The rezoning required 45 to 50 percent of a building should rise below 150 feet. This was a huge blow to Gamma and would require massive changes to their plans. Most immediately, it required a halt of construction on the project. But that just changed.
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December 1, 2017

Construction halted at 800-foot Sutton Place tower after City Council approves rezoning

Gamma Real Estate will stop work on Sutton 58, a proposed 800-foot-tall residential tower at 3 Sutton Place, after the New York City Council voted on Thursday to rezone 10 blocks on the Upper East Side. According to The Real Deal, the rezoning requires properties between 51st and 59th Streets east of First Avenue to follow ‘tower-on-a-base” rules, meaning 45 to 50 percent of the building must be built below 150 feet. This drastically changes the developer's plan for a soaring skyscraper and also caps the height of future buildings.
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November 16, 2017

City Planning gives the go ahead for controversial 800-foot Sutton Place tower

The City Planning Commission approved a resident-proposed plan to curb the development of supertall, skinny towers in Sutton Place on Wednesday, capping the height of future buildings. However, because of a clause inserted by the commission, projects already under construction will be grandfathered into the current zoning rules. This comes as good news for Gamma Real Estate, the developer currently constructing an 800-foot-tall residential tower, now called Sutton 58, at 3 Sutton Place. Gamma needs to finish the foundation planned for their luxury condominium tower before the city votes on the rezoning proposal, to be immune from new height restrictions (h/t Crain's).
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July 6, 2017

Locals employ new zoning strategy to keep skyscrapers from rising in Midtown East

In what they're calling an "unprecedented citizens' application," the East River 50s Alliance, a Sutton Place/Midtown community group, has mounted a renewed campaign to oppose an 800-foot tall condo tower that's rising at 430 East 58th Street, the Wall Street Journal reports. As 6sqft previously reported, the developers of the new tower, Gamma Real Estate, closed on the $86 million site earlier this year in a bankruptcy sale and hired Danish-born architect Thomas Juul-Hansen to design the new skyscraper. The group has filed an application for a zoning change that calls for a ban on tall towers in a 10-square-block area; developers regularly file for zoning changes that cover only the property they're looking to build on.
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April 10, 2017

Gamma Real Estate closes on $86M purchase of 3 Sutton Place, taps Thomas Juul-Hansen for new design

Following a contentious legal battle, Gamma Real Estate has won the foreclosure auction and closed on the $86 million acquisition of 3 Sutton Place, a development site where the firm plans on building a 700-foot-tall condominium tower. As Commercial Observer learned, this includes three neighboring lots at 428-432 East 58th Street between First Avenue and Sutton Place. Earlier this year, 6sqft explained that a bankruptcy judge authorized the sale of the property after Joseph Beninati’s Bauhouse Group failed to pay back creditors. While Stephen B Jacobs remains the executive architect, Gamma has hired Thomas Juul-Hansen, a Danish-born architect, who will design the skyscraper.
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December 30, 2016

Gamma Real Estate files plans for 850-foot tower at long-stalled Sutton Place site

When Gamma Real Estate's $98 million bid won the debt-beleaguered site at 3 Sutton Place just a couple weeks ago at a bankruptcy auction, 6sqft noted that the firm could either re-sell, bring the original plan for a 900-foot condo tower by starchitect Norman Foster to fruition, take on a joint-venture partner, or move forward with a plan of its own. The Real Deal now tells us that Gamma filed plans with the Department of Buildings for an 844-foot, 67-story tower with 389 apartments. However, he says this is to "safeguard the property" while the firms weighs all the aforementioned options.
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December 13, 2016

Gamma Real Estate’s $98M bid wins debt-ridden Sutton Place site at foreclosure auction

The debt-beleagured Sutton Place site that included plans for a 900-foot-tall luxury condo from starchitect Norman Foster has finally had its day at the auction, and the winning bidder was N. Richard Kalikow’s Gamma Real Estate, according to The Real Deal. A bankruptcy judge authorized the sale of the property at 3 Sutton Place in September, after Joseph Beninati's Bauhouse Group failed to pay back creditors and partners on the 262,000-square-foot development. Gamma controlled the entities that originally loaned Beninati $130 million, but as of today the developer outbid Brooklyn investor Isaac Hager, paying $86 million for the site and $12 million for additional air rights, far less than the predicted $187 million price tag.
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